20 Most Underrated WWE Stars Of The Past 20 Years
13. Jeff Jarrett
Now, I know what you’re thinking: how can the man who outstripped Triple H and John Cena as the main event hog of all time ever be considered underrated? After all, Jeff Jarrett’s virtual monopoly of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in TNA lasted between November 2002 and October 2006, and numbered six reigns at a total of 1006 days.
That’s nearly three out of those four years. No wonder he appears on so many people’s ‘most overrated’ lists: over-exposure caused exactly the same critical backlash for Triple H around the same time in the WWE.
However, precisely because of that over-exposed run at the top, Jeff Jarrett is a vastly underrated worker and character. He’s taken part in barnburning classics with the likes of Chris Benoit, Booker T and Shawn Michaels, and was instrumental in making a star out of Chyna during their 1999 feud, losing the Intercontinental Championship to her at No Mercy before leaving the WWF.
Always a canny political operator, Jarrett wasn’t actually contracted to the company when it came time to drop the title to Chyna, and managed to negotiate an impressive one-time fee for taking part in the match. This made him persona non grata in the WWF, however: and when Vince McMahon purchased WCW in 2001, he made it very clear that ‘Double J’ wouldn’t ever be welcome back in the WWF again.
Given the WWF’s virtual monopoly of American pro wrestling at that time, that would have effectively ended Jarrett’s career had he not formed NWA/TNA with his father - using Vince McMahon’s money - in 2002.
Jarrett may have overstayed his welcome in TNA’s main event, but he remains an excellent wrestler and performer with quality mic skills, an asset to every promotion he’s worked for over the course of a thirty year career.
The hilarious thing is that if so many people hadn’t ignored his upside and genuine skills to label him overrated for so many years, he might not be considered underrated for the purposes of this article today. Irony is a fickle beast.